North American tour supporting Cub Sport May 13 (in Seattle!) through June 7th.
Minor Poet is sharing the charming, Good Will Hunting-homage video for “Museum District” from The Good News, his forthcoming EP out May 17th on Sub Pop.
Minor Poet’s Andrew Carter and Sho Kellam co-directed the “Museum District” video, had this to say, “Good News Hunting tells the story of a songwriter and janitor who neglects finishing his new album, instead spending his days drinking in bars with his buddies and getting into fights in the Museum District of Richmond, VA. But after the advice and counseling of both his therapist and his best friend, he finds the courage to finish his new EP, The Good News.”
Minor Poet is currently supporting Australian band Cub Sport on the group’s headlining tour, which resumes on Monday May 13th in Seattle and ends June 7th in Phoenix at the Valley Bar. The tour will also include stops in Portland, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn, Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Austin, and Houston.
May 13 - Seattle, WA - Columbia City Theater May 14 - Portland, OR - The Old Church May 18 - Denver, CO - The Marquis Theater May 20 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern May 22 - Boston, MA - Café 939 May 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory May 24 - Montreal, QC - L’Esco May 25 - Toronto, ON - The Drake Underground May 28 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry at The Fillmore May 29 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd May 31 - Atlanta, GA - Purgatory at The Masquerade Jun. 02 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Indoor Jun. 03 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs) Jun. 05 - Dallas, TX - Three Links Jun. 07 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
Minor Poet’s The Good News was produced by Andrew Carter and Adrian Olsen (Natalie Prass, Foxygen) at Montrose Recording in Richmond. The Good News is available for preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on clear with red and blue swirl vinyl (while supplies last).
Yuno’s Moodie, his debut EP, is now available worldwide on Sub Pop.
Yuno has directed an official video for his reworked single “Sunlight,” which is now available in its new form through all DSPs today via Sub Pop.
The “Sunlight” single is an ode to joy, and it’s collage-like visual follows Yuno spending time with friends and creating music. He says of the video, “This song is about longing to be with someone you care about. I just started touring last year, and I got to meet a lot of people in person that I’ve been friends with for years. I was also far away from people I care about. I wrote this song a long time ago, but I wanted to update it and capture the feeling of how relevant it is in my life right now.” The “Sunlight” rework was co-produced by Yuno and producer Lars Stalfors (Lil Peep, HEALTH, Bob Moses, Matt and Kim).
Yuno’s “Sunlight” along with his breakout single, “No Going Back,” are currently featured in the hit Netflix film, The Perfect Date (see Refinery 29 April 24th).
Yuno’s Moodie, his first-ever collection of songs, is available now worldwide through Sub Pop. Moodie was written, performed, and produced by Yuno.
What people are saying about Yuno: “An early entry into the race for song of the summer.” [“No Going Back”] -NPR Music
“‘No Going Back” insists what we’re all thinking for the new pop wunderkind: Only forward.” [“No Going Back”, Best New Track] -Pitchfork
“A masterfully written song, but instead of being polished to a bore, it feels handmade, with a fuzzy guitar solo, meaty bass, and a euphoric bounce.” [“No Going Back”] - Pigeons & Planes
“Yuno’s lithe voice floats amidst the cheerful soundscape, bouncing off the plucky piano keys… the brand of sunny pop displayed on ‘No Going Back’ should earn him his own cult fanbase.” - Impose
“It’s light and breezy indie-pop, with warm and bouncy synth-lines softly coloured overck with warm piano melodies and guitar solos. His vocals – fitting beautifully into the current psychedelic renaissance spearheaded by the likes of Tame Impala and Washed Out – pour out an infectious melody that’s simultaneously great fun and inflected with melancholy.” [“No Going Back”] - Indie Shuffle
“Bouncy and bright…” [“No Going Back”] - Gorilla Vs. Bear.
“Charming us all with its buoyant pop flair and instrumentals that sound as if they were seemingly dipped in sunshine, “No Going Back” signals Yuno’s return in a way that’s almost impossible to shake. “No Going Back” is as promising as it is optimistic.” [“No Going Back”] - The Grey Estates
“Drifting digital pop casting a bittersweet spell.” [“No Going Back”] -CLASH
On May 31st, The Gotobeds - Cary, TFP, Eli and Gavin - return to the fray with their third full length, Debt Begins at 30. The esprit de corps and anxiety-free joy that permeates their other LPs and EPs remains intact. The octane is high-test, the engine still has knocks and pings and the battery is overcharged. The Gotobeds - as Pittsburgh as it gets, the folk music of the Steel City - have more tar for us to swallow. Debt Begins at 30 is an old-fashioned blast furnace and the liquid iron flows. You can stream the band’s new record in its entirety now via Brooklyn Vegan. Clickhere to listen.
The band will play an album release show in their hometown of Pittsburgh on May 25th at Babyland, with midwest, eastern and southern US shows in June, July, and August. See below for a full list of shows.
Debt Begins at 30 is out on LP/CD/digital and cassette Friday, May 31st, and it is available for preorder at the Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in the US and select European and UK retailers will receive the limited, splatter blue-vinyl Loser Edition while supplies last.
The Gotobeds Tour Dates:
May 25 - Pittsburgh, PA - Babyland (album release show) Jun. 20 - Pittsburgh, PA - Babyland % Jun. 21 - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village Jun. 23 - Columbus, IL - Ace of Cups Jul. 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Jul. 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool Jul. 18 - D.C, Washington - Comet Ping Pong Jul. 19 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s Aug. 01 - Bloomington, IN - Bishop Aug. 02 - Nashville, TN - DRKMTTR Aug. 05 - Dallas, TX - Ruins Aug. 06 - Austin, TX - Vegas Aug. 07 - Houston, TX - Satellite Aug. 08 - New Orleans, LA - Santos Aug. 09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl Aug. 10 - Cincinnati, OH - NSYC Oct. 17 - Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre ^
Also Announcing 2019 “True Love Is Making a Comeback” Tour.
Weyes Blood (pronounced wizebluhd) will release Titanic Rising, her fourth album and Sub Pop Records debut, worldwide on CD/LP/DL/CS April 5th, 2019. The album features the lead single “Everyday,” and the previously released “Andromeda,” along with highlights “Movies,” “Wild Time,” and “Something to Believe.” The cover for Titanic Rising was shot in a bedroom submerged fully underwater (zero CGI).
The new single, “Everyday,” chronicles the chaos of modern love and dating - short attention spans, restlessness, and the continuous crusade (and carnage) to find some kind of all-encompassing soul mate. Watch the official video, in all its bloody terror, directed by Weyes Blood here.
[Cover Art Photo Credit: Brett Stanley]
Titanic Rising, written and recorded during the first half of 2018, is the culmination of three albums and many years of touring: stronger chops and ballsier decisions. It’s an achievement in transcendent vocals and levitating arrangements, conversational lyrics and thoughtful commentary on the modern condition of our souls. Like the Kinks meet WWII (or is it Bob Seger meets Enya?) Titanic Rising manages to ride that line between classic songwriting and post-apocalyptic futurism.
Titanic Rising is now available for pre-order from Sub Pop. LP pre-orders in North America through weyesblood.com, megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on maroon colored vinyl (while supplies last). LP pre-orders of Titanic Rising in the UK and Europe from select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on red vinyl (while supplies last). There is also a new T-shirt design available now.
Titanic Rising Tracklisting
1. A Lot’s Gonna Change 2. Andromeda 3. Everyday 4. Something to Believe 5. Titanic Rising 6. Movies 7. Mirror Forever 8. Wild Time 9. Picture Me Better 10. Nearer to Thee
Weyes Blood has also scheduled an intergalactic headlining tour for the spring of 2019 in support of Titanic Rising, which begins on April 22nd in Brighton, UK at the Haunt and currently ends June 13th at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Weyes Blood and her band will visit the UK, mainland Europe, Canada, and the US for these dates. These dates will be preceded by a run of California shows, which run April 1st-April 5th, 2019. More 2019 dates to come.
Tickets for the newly announced shows go on sale Friday, February 15th at 10 am PST.
True Love Is Making a Comeback Tour 2019
California Apr. 01 - Fresno, CA - Strummers Apr. 02 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Atrium at The Catalyst Apr. 03 - Santa Barbara, CA - Velvet Jones Apr. 04 - Los Angeles, CA - Masonic Lodge [Sold Out]
UK/Europe Apr. 22 - Brighton, UK - The Haunt Apr. 23 - Bristol, UK - The Exchange Apr. 24 - Manchester, UK - YES (The Pink Room) Apr. 25 - London, UK - Islington Assembly Hall Apr. 27 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain Apr. 28 - Hamburg, DE - Turmzimmer Apr. 29 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Upstairs Apr. 30 - Dunkerque, FR - 4Ecluses May 02 - Paris, FR - La Maroquinerie May 03 - Orleans, FR - Astrolabe May 04 - Brussels, BE - Le Nuits Botanique (Venue: Rotonde)
North America May 14 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent May 16 - Seattle, WA - The Tractor Tavern May 17 - Vancouver, BC - St. James Hall May 18 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir May 21 - Minneapolis, MN - Turf Club May 22 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall May 24 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern May 25 - Montreal, QC - Petit Campus May 26 - Portland, ME - SPACE Gallery May 28 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair May 29 - New York, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg May 31 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall Jun. 01 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s Jun. 03 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl Jun. 04 - Nashville, TN - The High Watt Jun. 06 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada Jun. 07 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall (upstairs) Jun. 08 - Austin, TX - Antone’s Jun. 11 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf Jun. 12 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar Jun. 13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
Weyes Blood recently released “Andromeda,” a stellar offering also found on Titanic Rising. The track plays on a few themes (mythology, astronomy, technology), and is ultimately a love song about finding something long-lasting in an ever-changing world full of distractions, unrealistic expectations (“looking up to the sky for, something I may never find”) and past disappointments.
Stereogum recently named “Andromeda” one of its songs of the week, and said “There are few contemporary artists who sound like Natalie Mering. Her voice is enchanting, and on this song, she asks listeners to give themselves over to love, as if doing so will allow them to live in her plush, technicolor world a little longer.” And The FADER raves “…Mering, crafts melodies that feel rooted in another space and time.”
About Weyes Blood’s Titanic Rising: The phantom zone, the parallax, the upside down—there is a rich cultural history of exploring in-between places. Through her latest,Titanic Rising, Weyes Blood (a.k.a. Natalie Mering) has, too, designed her own universe to soulfully navigate life’s mysteries. Maneuvering through a space-time continuum, she intriguingly plays the role of a melodic, sometimes melancholic, anthropologist.
Tellingly, Mering classifies Titanic Rising as the Kinks meet WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya. The latter captures the album’s willful expansiveness (“You can tell there’s not a guy pulling the strings in Enya’s studio,” she notes, admiringly). The former relays her imperative to connect with listeners. “The clarity of Bob Seger is unmistakable. I’m a big fan of conversational songwriting,” she adds. “I just try to do that in a way that uses abstract imagery as well.”
“An album is like a Rubik’s Cube,” she says. “Sometimes you get all the dimensions—the lyrics, the melody, the production—to line up. I try to be futuristic and ancient at once, which is a difficult alchemy. It’s taken a lot of different tries to get it right.” As concept-album as it may sound, it’s also a devoted exercise in realism, albeit occasionally magical. Here, the throwback-cinema grandeur of “A Lot’s Gonna Change” gracefully coexists with the otherworldly title track, an ominous instrumental.
Titanic Rising, written and recorded during the first half of 2018, is the culmination of three albums and years of touring: stronger chops and ballsier decisions. It’s an achievement in transcendent vocals and levitating arrangements—one she could reach only by flying under the radar for so many years. “I used to want to belong,” says the L.A. based musician. “I realized I had to forge my own path. Nobody was going to do that for me. That was liberating. I became a Joan of Arc solo musician.”
The Weyes Blood frontwoman grew up singing in gospel and madrigal choirs. “Classical and Renaissance music really influenced me,” says Mering, who first picked up a guitar at age 8. (Listen closely to Titanic Rising, and you’ll also hear the jazz of Hoagy Carmichael mingle with the artful mysticism of Alejandro Jodorowsky and the monomyth of scholar Joseph Campbell.) “Something to Believe,” a confessional that makes judicious use of the slide guitar, touches on that cosmological upbringing. “Belief is something all humans need. Shared myths are part of our psychology and survival,” she says. “Now we have a weird mishmash of capitalism and movies and science. There have been moments where I felt very existential and lost.”
As a kid, she filled that void with Titanic. (Yes, the movie.) “It was engineered for little girls and had its own mythology,” she explains. Mering also noticed that the blockbuster romance actually offered a story about loss born of man’s hubris. “It’s so symbolic that the Titanic would crash into an iceberg, and now that iceberg is melting, sinking civilization.” Today, this hubris also extends to the relentless adoption of technology, at the expense of both happiness and attention spans. The track “Movies” marks another Titanic-related epiphany: “that movies had been brainwashing people and their ideas about romantic love.” To that end, Mering has become an expert at deconstructing intimacy. Sweeping and string-laden, “Andromeda” seems engineered to fibrillate hearts. “It’s about losing your interest in trying to be in love,” she says. “Everybody is their own galaxy, their own separate entity. There is a feeling of needing to be saved, and that’s a lot to ask of people.” Its companion track, “Everyday,” “is about the chaos of modern dating,” she says, “the idea of sailing off onto your ships to nowhere to deal with all your baggage.”
But Weyes Blood isn’t one to stew. Her observations play out in an ethereal saunter: far more meditative than cynical. “I experience reality on a slower, more hypnotic level,” she says. “I’m a more contemplative kind of writer.” To Mering, listening and thinking are concurrent experiences. “There are complicated influences mixed in with more relatable nostalgic melodies,” she says. “In my mind, my music feels so big, a true production. I’m not a huge, popular artist, but I feel like one when I’m in the studio. But it’s never taking away from the music. I’m just making a bigger space for myself.”
Transcendent folk-pop artist Shannon Lay will release August, her Sub Pop debut, on CD/LP/DL/CS worldwide on August 23rd. You can now watch the official video for “Nowhere,” the album’s lead single, directed by Lay and Chris Slater. She says of the song and visual, “I want this song to emphasize the importance of enjoying the journey. The video is moments of in between travel footage, different settings around my home, singing in the bounty of spring. There is so much power in presence, enjoy every moment, savor every second. Cherish the memories made along the way and appreciate how they change and shape you.”
The title August refers to the month in 2017 when Lay quit her day job and fully gave herself over to music. This was her liberation as an artist, and the album is devoted to paying that forward to her listeners. “It’s a thank you to the universe,” says the Los Angeles artist. Exquisitely uplifting, August doubles as an aural baptism renewing her purpose for making music. “I always picture music as this river. Everyone’s throwing things into this river, it’s a place you can go to and feed off of that energy,” she says, “and feel nourished by the fact that so many people are feeling what you’re feeling. It’s this beautiful exchange.” You can listen to her cover of the classic Karen Dalton track “Something On Your Mind” here.
August is now available for preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, UK, and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on orange vinyl (North America) and Sun Yellow vinyl (UK/EU) while supplies last.
As previously reported, Shannon Lay will be a member of Ty Segall’s Freedom Band for his upcoming full album residencies in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London, Berlin, and Haarlem (See Pitchfork’s news story April 24th).
Following these shows, Shannon Lay will embark on an 18-date North American tour opening for Mikal Cronin, beginning November 8th in Portland at Mississippi Studios and ending on December 1st in San Diego at the Casbah. Click here for a full list of dates.
August Track Listing:
1. Death Up Close 2. Nowhere 3. November 4. Shuffling Stoned 5. Past Time 6. Wild 7. August 8. Sea Came to Shore 9. Sunday Sundown 10. Something On Your Mind 11. Unconditional 12. The Dream
Sub Pop is over the moon to announce that we’ve signed Seattle band Tacocat (!) and are set to release their new full-length album This Mess Is a Place on LP/CD/Digital and Cassette on Friday, May 3rd. The sparkly new album is their first for Sub Pop, and heralds a more pop-driven and ebullient direction in their sound. Today, NPR music premiered the official music video for lead-off single “Grains of Salt,” which features a variety of Seattle’s finest drag performers. Watch the official video here. The band has also announced a North American summer tour. Pre-orders are available now from our Megamart, with limited LOSER editions on jade green vinyl.
Tacocat also announced a run of 2019 North American tour dates. All tickets go on sale Friday, February 15th at 10 am local time.
May 09 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club May 10 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club May 11 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall May 12 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Pyramid Scheme May 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe May 15 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair May 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg May 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle May 19 - Washington, D.C. - U Street Music Hall May 21 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook May 22 - Atlanta, GA - The Drunken Unicorn May 23 - Nashville, TN - The High Watt May 24 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway May 25 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar June 08 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox at the Market June 12 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett June 13 - Boise, ID - Neurolux June 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court June 15 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge June 17 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada June 18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall June 19 - Austin, TX - Barracuda June 21 - Sante Fe, NM - Meow Wolf June 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar June 23 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah June 25 - Los Angeles, CA - The Bootleg Theater June 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel June 28 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
This Mess Is a Place Tracklisting:
1. Hologram 2. New World 3. Grains of Salt 4. The Joke of Life 5. Little Friend 6. Rose-Colored Sky 7. The Problem 8. Crystal Ball 9. Meet Me at La Palma 10. Miles and Miles
About Tacocat’s This Mess Is a Place:
When Seattle band Tacocat—vocalist Emily Nokes, bassist Bree McKenna, guitarist Eric Randall, and drummer Lelah Maupin—first started in 2007, the world they were responding to was vastly different from the current Seattle scene of diverse voices they’ve helped foster. It was a world of house shows, booking DIY tours on MySpace, and writing funny, deliriously catchy feminist pop-punk songs when feminism was the quickest way to alienate yourself from the then-en vogue garage-rock bros. Their lyrical honesty, humor, and hit-making sensibilities have built the band a fiercely devoted fanbase over the years, one that has followed them from basements to dive bars to sold-out shows at the Showbox. Every step along the way has been a seamless progression—from silly songs about Tonya Harding and psychic cats to calling out catcallers and poking fun at entitled weekend-warrior tech jerks on their last two records on Hardly Art, 2014’s NVM and 2016’s Lost Time.
This Mess is a Place, Tacocat’s fourth full-length and first on Sub Pop,finds the band waking up the morning after the 2016 election and figuring out how to respond to a new reality where evil isn’t hiding under the surface at all—it’s front and center, with new tragedies and civil rights assaults filling up the scroll of the newsfeed every day. “What a time to be barely alive,” laments “Crystal Ball,” a gem that examines the more intimate side of responding emotionally to the news cycle. How do you keep fighting when all you want to do is stay in bed all day? “Stupid computer stupor/Oh my kingdom for some better ads,” Nokes sings, throwing in some classic Tacocat snark, “Truth spread so thin/It stops existing.”
Despite current realities being depressing enough to make anyone want to crawl under the covers and sleep for a thousand years, Tacocat are doing what they’ve always done so well: mingling brightness, energy, and hope with political critique. This Mess is a Place is charged with a hopefulness that stands in stark contrast to music that celebrates apathy, despair, and numbness. Tacocat feels it all and cares, a lot, whether they’re singing odes to the magical connections we feel with our pets (“Little Friend”), imagining what a better earth might look like (“New World”), or trying to find humor in a wholly unfunny world (“The Joke of Life”).
Throughout the album, Tacocat questions power structures and the way we interact with them, recalling the feminist sci-fi of Ursula K. Le Guin in pop-music form. “Rose-Colored Sky” examines the privilege of people who have been able to skate through life without ever experiencing systemic disadvantage: “For all the years spent/Hot lava shaping me/For all the arguments/I wonder who else would I be?” Nokes sings. “If I wasn’t on the battleground/I bet I could’ve gone to space by now.” “Hologram” reminds us to step outside ourselves and try to see beyond imaginary structures that trap us: “Just close your eyes and think about the Milky Way/Just remember if you can, power is a hologram.”
The record is full of beautiful details, finding plastic beaded curtains catching light amidst feelings of despair. This Mess is A Place explores politics with more nuance than the topical songs of Tacocat’s past, inviting listeners in for more complicated exchanges and leaving space for introspection. “Grains of Salt” finds the band at the best they’ve ever sounded: Maupin’s spirited drums, McKenna’s bouncy walking bass, Randall’s catchy guitar and Nokes’ soaring melody combine to create a bonafide roller-rink hit that reminds us that it just takes some time, we’re in the middle of the ride, and to live for what matters to you. It’s a delightfully cathartic moment and the cornerstone of the record when they exclaim: “Don’t forget to remember who the fuck you are!”
Producer Erik Blood (who also produced Lost Time) brings the band into their full pop potential but still preserves what makes Tacocat so special: they’re four friends who met as young punks and have grown together into a truly collaborative band. Says Nokes: “We can examine some hard stuff, make fun of some evil stuff, feel some soft feelings, feel some rage feelings, feel some bitter-ass feelings, sift through memories, feel wavy-existential, and still go get a banana daiquiri at the end.”
